Feature Article

Top American Retailers Teaming Up on Mobile Payment Platform

As mobile payments become more and more popular, a group of United States retailers have formed a team that is gearing up to try and take down Google Wallet. The companies involved are well known retailers, but some are those that most people would never think of when talking about formulating a new kind of mobile payment platform.

Wal-Mart, Target, and 7-Eleven are all working together to create a new mobile payment network that has been dubbed the Merchant Customer Exchange. This new exchange is just the latest kind of mobile payment systems that can allow people to pay for their purchases through smartphones and other mobile devices. This new exchange is a direct competitor to the Google Wallet program that was released on Android phones last year.

Target’s president of financial and retail services, Terry Scully said that the main reason these companies have teamed up is so they can have a say in how the mobile payments system develops over the next few years. "What we are looking for is a broad, seamless experience across all retail formats," Scully said.

There is a reason that companies like Target and 7-Eleven are getting into the mobile payments now.

Juniper Research recently said that mobile payments are skyrocketing over the next few years, as much as getting up to $1.3 trillion by 2017. Because of this, the retailer group is participating in some big time discussions with several different financial institutions and technology companies in order to get this particular technology just right.

Scully said that while the companies want to get their mobile payment exchange online as soon as possible, they also want to make sure that the exchange is done the right way.